It is fairly difficult to write about an artist who, despite his tremendous accomplishments, is so young, because one senses the masterpieces in his future.  However, since Raghava cannot be characterized as a 'young artist' anymore—indeed so strongly has he carved a place for himself in the Indian artistic landscape—that reservation needs to be set aside for the moment. Indeed as the Times of India article about him claimed, he is "already a veteran with about 10 international exhibitions behind him!"  

Raghava started out his artistic career as a cartoonist; and the skill he learned from his first steps in the world of art is in clear evidence in his hazy yet razor-sharp figures (Figure 1).  The move was characterized by a period of intense concentration on a particular form of painterly-expression: the familiar portraits of young women of his early-period.   He seemed in those works to be slowly perfecting a certain aesthetic aspect.  He ignored the criticism that his art seemed monotone—as every true artist should—and spent all his energy trying to realize his inner goal.   The concentration has clearly paid off.  The masterpieces of this period are, without a doubt, his 'Elements' series(Figure 2), where his concern for color, texture and form fuse together to make those magnificent canvases, each of which seems to present a different view of Art
(I make some tentative speculations here, emboldened by the very titles, elements, which are to be interpreted as the 'elements of the artistic process: Water, with its concern for exploring Movement, in so far as this element can be captured in a static watercolor; Earth, with its depiction of Texture; Wind, with its obvious skill at displaying Form at the very brink of its dissolution and Fire, that gorgeous apotheosis of Color. As will be seen, all these themes recur in Raghava's work and will be clear in his later, bolder experiments).  

Once he had perfected his technique within a single subject; one is reminded of the variation technique in music; he moved on in his middle period to experiment with a multitude of human forms, emphasizing above all their fluidity and universal significance. It was in this period that he produced those stunning images, displayed at his groundbreaking exhibition in Bangalore, Tactile Symphony (Figure 3), and at the Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery in Mumbai, of Buddha, Ganesha and Jesus, mythic figures treated with an appropriate 'iconic style' of painting (and here one sees the influence of the tableaux vivants of Toulouse Lautrec).  Each painting brought out with great élan a different aspect of meaning that these legendary figures hold for the cultural imagination.  The other remarkable set of paintings, which were master-studies of Rhythm and movement, were the series of flamenco dances, Las Bailadores de Flamenco.  

One must keep in mind, while trying to explain the most recent phase of fecund experimentation, that quietly, on the sly, Raghava has always been experimenting with other media:  with creating art from 'pure light' in the earlier period (Figure 4), to combining images in a postmodern fashion with his own invented medium, 'the artograph': an astonishingly original combination of an artwork and photograph (Figure 5). This then allows us to contextualize his latest phase of intense experimentation within the mode of artistic-expression that has always been present in him.  

His latest works defy description: he has breathed a new lease of life into the stagnant and outmoded forms of Indian art with his 'Anthropomorphism' stagings, where he paints the entire stage, as well as a troupe of dancers, to create live paintings.   The initial concern for movement that was remarked upon even in his political cartoons seemed to have reached fruition!  Dynamism, he seems to be saying, is the very spirit of art!   And this is no surprise, coming from a person for whom the one fitting adjective is 'dynamic'!  

Raghava's work represents a sure-fire investment in the labile world of art. His work features in the collections of both corporates (such as Intel, GE, The Hindu) and prominent art-collectors such as Clarence Chandran (former CEO of Nortel) and B.K. Birla.  He has also been the recipient of grants from organizations like the Robin Hood Foundation in New york City , the American India Foundation, and the Central Government of India through the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company. Most importantly, he represents a completely unique figure in the art world; an artist with the capacity to express the spirit of today's globalized World.  

Rejecting both the traditionalism of Indian art that is no longer capable of dealing with rapid changes in today's world, and the provincialism of Western Art that is often unable to deal with global realities because of its tendency to intellectualize, Raghava is a novel figure in the art world.   His inspiration clearly comes from his travels around the world, and thus his art has a universal appeal that will win him new markets otherwise closed to aspiring Indian artists.   There is no better guarantor of the quality of Investment than the fact that already, at the age of 24, he has been auctioned at the Queen's Museum.   One feels the need to end the article on the note one started on: everything needs to be regarded as provisional in the world of so meteoric an artist. There is no guessing what future masterpieces of originality and innovation are in store for us, his eager audience!  

Ashvin Rajagopalan Curator, Ashvita Art Gallery , Chennai , India 2005